Dear volunteer,
To keep you even more fully up-to-date with news, I'm now posting to my blog
as things happen. You can read my latest posts at any time by
clicking here, but I'll also continue to provide a monthly round-up too. Thank you so much for the volunteering that you give to the Ramblers.
Postings in the past month:
(click on the headline to read the full post)
Len Bannister from the Ramblers Greater London Forum was talking about the effect of Olympic development on local walking routes. Here's the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/2012/newsid_9132000/9132467.stm
Our Get Walking Keep Walking website - www.getwalking.org - has been nominated for a top award by the publishing industry trade body. This recognition is well deserved. Since being launched in January, nearly 33,000 people have registered for a Get Walking Pack. We've recently launched an online version of the pack called 'My Get Walking' on the website, and nearly 1500 people have registered on this in just six weeks. Get Walking Keep Walking is a Ramblers programme to encourage people who…
It's past 11pm and I'm coming home bleary-eyed from a meeting this evening with volunteers in Glasgow. This is the latest in our series of special national and regional meetings involving Rodney Whittaker (our Chair) and myself, with Ramblers volunteers. As always, issues ranged widely - many were focused on how we meet the target of ending 2010/11 with more members than we started. [In Scotland, this means getting to October 2011 with more than 6,813 paid up members!]. There are however issues…
This is a short post to welcome a new addition to the Ramblers family. A new Ramblers Group has been constituted this week. The Group is called "London Strollers", and sits within the Inner London Area. It has been set up to provide shorter walks - for example, for those who are just starting to walk, or wanting to slow down, or short of time. It's a great innovation, and I wish it every success. The more diversity we have in our walks programmes, the better for recruiting and…
A gentleman who has been on most of the Ramblers 16 evening Films on Foot walks (put on to coincide the the BFI London Film Festival) called Ramblers this week and joined up to one of our groups as a Life Member with an extra donation on top. He's loving the walks and is really impressed with the Ramblers work. This is one of many similar stories from this year's festival. Attendances have been averaging 29 per walk with the highest turnout 50 so far and the smallest 17. Around 80% are to the…
I've just left the briefing at DEFRA with the Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman MP, and her team - giving more details about how the Comprehensive Spending Review will affect her department. I'm not feeling very cheered about the consequences for promoting access to the countryside, and what that means for walking. The Department is facing reductions in resource spending of 29%, and capital spending of 34%. And it's clear that ministers are not seeing promotion of involvement with the…
Spending cuts announced today could close off the countryside to an entire generation. We're predicting we will return to the ‘Forbidden Britain’ of the 1960s where accessing our countryside was often more of a challenge than a pleasure. I'm saying in a press release today: “Millions of people are going to be affected by today’s announcement, in all sorts of difficult ways and we understand that together we face some tough times ahead. However, walking has always been a simple…
I'm on my way back from a meeting with 25 Ramblers volunteers in Nottingham - from Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Staffordshire, Birmingham, Sheffield, to name a few. Lots of issues covered, mostly around our four priorities for the coming year of more members; more income; protecting and improving the path network; and more efficiency/effectiveness. Here's a list of some of the issues: - The importance of promoting membership in outdoors shops (we talked about the example of Cotswolds…
We've just published advice on setting up new groups. This follows a rash of new groups being set up across the country - many aimed at people in their 40-50s, for those who like shorter walks. I'd like to see more of a variety of groups (and sub-groups in existing ones) in the Ramblers, catering for different age groups and interests. What about setting up a bird watcher's walking group, for instance? It's a good way to attract more members. The advice also covers what to do if…
We've said goodbye to Keith Roberts, Director of Campaigns and Policy, this afternoon. After three years with the Ramblers he's moving on to new challenges. He's been a great colleague to work with through some very turbulent times - always calm and consistent, and with a lovely sense of humour. I shall miss him. I'm not rushing to replace the post, because I think what we need at the moment is more on-the-ground campaigning firepower, to help us respond to the threats to rights of way…
I'm just on my way back from a special volunteers meeting in Cardiff, with Rodney (our Chair) and myself. There were sixteen volunteers from a range of groups including Mendip, Llanelli, Tiger Bay and Islwyn; and the event was chaired by Helen Lloyd Jones, chair of Ramblers Cymru. Rodney and I outlined the business plan's four priorities (more members; more income; footpaths campaigning; and more efficiency), and then we answered questions, alongside Rob Hanna from the Wales office. One of the…
It's just been announced that the Ramblers has been nominated TWICE in the International Customer Publishing Awards - once for our (already award-winning) Walkmag.co.uk website, and again for our getwalking.org.uk website (aimed at those new to walking). These nominations follow hot on the heels of our Third Sector Excellence Award a couple of weeks ago. Well done to everyone - staff and volunteers - involved. We've got plans to develop our main website this year, so our web presence looks set to…
Ramblers membership figures for the beginning of October have just come through - at 121,498. Our target is to finish the coming year with more members than we started - that is, more people supporting our cause, meaning more walking, and more volunteering.
I was just about to write to write to Mary Creagh, the new Shadow DEFRA Secretary, when I got a call from her office inviting the Ramblers to speak to the Shadow DEFRA team next week. We'll jump at this opportunity to put across the Ramblers priorities. The other MPs in the team are Jamie Reed, Willie Bain, and Peter Soulsby.
I attended the walk and the AGM of the Chilterns Weekend Walkers (CWW) on Sunday. About 45 people at each. It is a very successful group - and shows what can be achieved. CWW is a Ramblers Group for 40-50s, is five years old, and spun out of the Chiltern 20-30s group. In the past year, its membership has gone from 120 to about 220, and it has increased its number of walks from 130 to 150. These are the things that impressed me: - excellent dynamic committee - all of the committee members are…
We held the launch of our campaign for a definitive map for inner London at the British Library Map Exhibition recently. We had a great speaker from the Camberwell Society giving an example of how easy it is for routes to disappear. Here he is explaining it. London on the Map video
I've been blogging once a month for Ramblers volunteers for the past year. I think it is time to take the plunge and start to blog more frequently - so this is my new-style blog. If you're a Ramblers volunteer, I hope its useful.
